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Roman
Abramovich
is best known as a Russian billionaire.
He owns the investment company Millhouse
Capital, the English Premiership football
team called Chelsea Football Club, and
is the governor of Chukotka in Russia.
Despite his influential status in sports,
oil, and politics, Abramovich is relatively
private, granting few interviews over
the years and making almost no public
statements about his life or work.
Roman
Arkadyevich Abramovich was born on October
24, 1966 to a Jewish family in Lithuania.
His mother, Irina Ostrowski Abramovich,
died before Roman was two and his father,
Arkady Abramovich, was killed in a construction
accident less than two years later. As
a result, Roman was raised by his paternal
grandparents in the chilly Arctic climate
of their hometown in Lithuania. Roman
Abramovich attended the Industrial Institute
in Ukhta before the Soviet Army drafted
him a soldier. After his return from the
army, Abramovich attended the Moscow State
Auto Transport Institute for a brief period
before leaving the academic world for
good.
When
Mikhail Gorbachev allowed small business
development in post-communist Russia in
the late 1980s, Roman Abramovich began
selling plastic ducks from his small apartment
in Moscow. After a few years, Abramovich
began investing in other businesses, expanding
his wealth. Between 1992 and 1995, Abramovich
created companies that acted as resale
intermediaries and he eventually focused
his attention on the purchase and sale
of oil. In 1995 he partnered with Boris
Berezovsky to purchase a controlling share
of the oil company Sibneft for a sum of
$100 million. At the time the company
was estimated to be worth $150 million,
but after stock value jumped shortly after
the acquisition, many Soviets began to
question the estimated worth prior to
sale. In 2000, Berezovsky left Russia
over a fraud scandal and sold his shares
to Abramovich.
In
1999 Roman Abramovich began charitable
work in the Chukotka region in Siberian
Russia, a cold, impoverished region of
the country. Abramovich was particularly
interested in helping children and established
the Pole of Hope charity to help the people
of Chukotka. In December of 2000, Abramovich
was elected governor of the region and
has since invested millions of pounds
in the development of its educational
system, hospitals, and a college in Anadyr.
Although Chukotka works as a tax haven
for Sibneft, Abramovich's work has provided
employment opportunities to the locals
and given them priceless opportunities
for growth and education. Abramovich wanted
to leave his position as governor in 2005,
but Russian
President Vladimir Putin eliminated
the ability to elect regional governors
and Abramovich was reappointed as regional
governor to Chukotka for another term.
In
2003 Roman Abramovich purchased the Chelsea
Football Club in the United Kingdom. The
acquisition changed the marketing strategies
of the game as well as the ability to
"purchase" players. Due to Abramovich's
personal wealth, he had the ability to
build state of the art facilities and
offer large salaries to players to join
his team regardless of the financial status
of the team itself. As a result, other
teams have had to redirect wealth in order
to keep up.
Roman
Abramovich currently resides in West London
and is known as the second richest person
in the United Kingdom.
This Roman Abramovich biography
may not be reproduced online.
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